Tag Archive for Figueroa for All

The LA Times finally picks up the story of Councilmember Gil Cedillo’s single-handed decision to kill the already approved, funded and shovel-ready road diet on North Figueroa.

They get most of it right in what reads like an attempt to be overly even-handed. Although they incorrectly frame the debate as being over bike lanes, when the lanes themselves are just one tool in a plan to reduce the roadway’s overcapacity in an attempt to slow traffic and improve safety.

They also fail to challenge Cedillo’s unsupported claim that the road diet would increase emergency response times, even though that is not the position of either the LAPD or LA Fire Department. Or his bizarre claim that the city’s bike plan that was unanimously approved by the city council — before Cedillo sat on it — was developed by just 1,000 people, despite numerous public meetings and presentations, as well as months of online comment.

And since when are bike riders who simply want a safe route through Northeast LA considered “activists” — a loaded word most likely to be used in a disparaging manner by those opposing the project?

Meanwhile, Brit rider Jonathan Tiernan-Locke is banned for two years and fired from Team Sky for doping. Nice to know the sport has cleaned itself up and no one would ever dream of cheating anymore, right?

If you’re carrying hash oil and marijuana on your bike, and already wanted on multiple active warrants, put a damn light on it, already. And amazingly, a very lucky 17-year old Russian bike rider walks away after being run over by a large truck in a terrifying video.

The only problem is, the long-planned, funded and shovel-ready road diet is a safety improvement project designed to make one of LA’s more dangerous streets significantly safer for everyone — pedestrians, drivers and bike riders included.

And even though a New Zealand study shows a combination of traffic calming and separated bike lanes — in other words, a road diet — cut car use 40% while increasing cycling rates a matching 40%. And brought in a whopping $24 return on investment for every dollar spent.

A benefit that, along with improving safety, will now bypass all those who live or work along the boulevard, as well as traverse it. As Cedillo ensures that the street will remain dangerous for everyone, despite modest improvements, while speeding traffic past local businesses.

A Glendale letter writer says if bike riders are demanding equal rights, we need to be held accountable. Problem is, he gets most of it wrong. And we already have equal rights under the law; we just need the people we share the roads with to recognize that.

Former substance abuse counselor Sherri Lynn Wilkins, who fell off the wagon and killed a pedestrian while driving under the influence — hitting him so hard she literally knocked him out of his boxers, and drove two miles with his body lodged in her windshield — was sentenced to 55 years to life.

Maybe if the heartless cowards who killed Andy Garcia and maimed Damian Kevitt, just to name a few in a shamefully long list, faced sentences like that, we might finally put an end to this horrible epidemic.

Meanwhile Streetsblog looks ahead to the meeting that took place last night, and questions the motivations of CM Cedillo.

By all reports, the meeting was a total waste of time as Cedillo spent over an hour introducing his staff and patting himself on the back, while failing to take comments from the public on either side of the debate. Many people got bored and walked out long before the meeting was over.

Instead, attendees were asked to fill out a form indicating their preferences — the results of which will be compiled by the office of the same councilmember accused of trying to block the project.

A new study says brain injuries are up an average of 14% in bike share cities. Which kind of makes sense since more people are riding, too.

A Fairbanks AK driver is under arrest for the drunken 7 am hit-and-run death of a bike rider. Yes, he was wasted and behind the wheel first thing in the morning; not surprisingly, it’s not his first DUI.

An Albuquerque cyclist says the hit-and-run driver who seriously injured another rider had deliberately attempted to run them both off the road; uncomprehending — or possibly uncaring — local police ignore her and call it just another accident.

Wow. A Yorkshire, England man turns down treatment after a recurrence of lung cancer, sells everything he owns and sets out to tour the world by bike; two years and over 21,000 miles later, he’s still doing well.

A 21-year old cyclist takes a 3,000 mile journey through the Australian Outback — 100 years ago.

Finally…

Even if I could teach the Corgi to be a trail dog, who’s going to teach me to ride like that? A Glendale man leaves his car parked in front of a convenience store, then comes back on a bike 30 minutes later — and proceeds to throw the bike through the store’s window. And after a British rider is assaulted by another cyclist in a Team Sky kit, the Guardian assures us that the perp was not Brit bike heroes Bradley Wiggins or Chris Froome.

Which is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the resentment many riders and NELA community members seem to feel over the Councilman’s apparent attempts to tip the scales in opposition to the planned North Fig road diet and bike lanes.

And all for reasons known only to Cedillo, who has yet to take a public stand on the issue despite the obvious efforts of his office to torpedo the already approved, funded and shovel-ready project designed to improve safety and livability for everyone along the corridor.

The project enjoyed overwhelming public support at the last meeting on the subject, even though Cedillo and his staff refused to let most supporters be heard in a bizarre attempt at balancing those in favor and against the project. Which only served to amplify the voices of the minority opposition far beyond the limited support they actually had.

Anyone who lives, works or rides in the area is urged to attend. And wear green to show which side you stand with, even if they try to muzzle supporters once again.

Too much bad news on the national front today, as a 70-year old German tourist riding across the US is killed in Walla Walla WA; the driver claimed he was blinded by the sun, which should be excuse enough to avoid any adverse consequences.

Very sad. The 2012 US masters national points race champ is killed when his wheel overlaps another rider’s in a Colorado Springs velodrome collision; tragically, his daughter, the current 15-16 national track champ, was competing in the same race.

If you’re going to steal a bike from a bike shop, don’t break it on the way out and don’t run into a passing homicide detective. And a writer for the Times looks forward to this weekend’s LA edition of the World Naked Bike Ride, though noting that most folks should never be naked after birth; must make for some awkward showers at his place.

So grab some coffee and settle in for some serious reading. Then get out on your bike; it looks like a perfect weekend for riding.

………

CD1 Councilmember Gil Cedillo’s apparent attempt to torpedo the North Figueroa road diet, for reasons known only to him, has resulted in significant blowback from the bicycling and transportation communities.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton says there may be political reasons to oppose the road diet. But calls BS on the fears of delayed emergency response cited by police and fire officials, who were apparently talking off the cuff and not officially representing their departments. According to Linton, the issue has previously been studied extensively by the city and found to pose no significant impact.

Meanwhile, in an open letter to Cedillo, BAC Chair Jeff Jacobberger questions what authority the city has to replace previously approved bike lanes with less-safe sharrows, and whether we can now expect the same wrench to be thrown into other planned bike projects.

Apparently Cedillo is betting the damage done to his reputation in his first year as a council member will be long forgotten by the time he has to stand for re-election in another three years.

Now this is a great idea. A new lockable bike stem makes your bike unsteerable if it’s stolen. Just don’t lose the key.

………

Looks like cab companies are fighting back against Uber, Lyft, et al. Download the Taxi Magic LA app and enter the code BIKEMAGIC before 5 pm Monday the 19th, and you’ll be entered to win one of five new Linus bikes.

With current bids of just $60 and $100, respectively, at the time of this writing, both are seriously undervalued. Which gives you a chance to step in and snap up a great ride with a fascinating and friendly guide for a just fraction of what it’s really worth.

The Tesla driver who blamed that new car smell for making him fall asleep and kill a Santa Cruz cyclist faces up to one year in jail after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter charge. Note to motorists: if you feel sleepy, pull over, dammit.

National

Five ways bicycling can make or save you money that goes way beyond the usual suspects — including raising the value of your home and giving you a tax break.

Vox says it’s time to stop forcing bike riders to wear helmets. Personally, I’m a firm believer in wearing a helmet; I credit mine with saving my life and brain in a solo fall seven years ago. But too many people — especially non-riders — don’t realize they’re only designed to protect against impacts up to 12.5 mph.

A local website offers an anti-bike hatchet job in honor of Seattle’s Bike to Work Day. Note to MyNorthwest: motorists have been known to run red lights, fail to signal and act with a sense of entitlement, too.

A Colorado driver faces anywhere from two to 24 years in prison after pleading guilty to killing a cyclist. Prosecutors dropped charges that she was allegedly drunk when she fell asleep at the wheel while on her way to a court hearing for a previous DUI case.

Richard Risemberg doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to the North Figueroa fiasco.

Writing for Flying Pigeon, he accuses CD1 Councilmember Gil Cedillo of bait and switch in supporting bike lanes when he was running for office, and seemingly opposing them now that he’s in office.

North Figueroa has been shown to be overdesigned for the level of traffic that it sees, resulting in scofflaw drivers speeding down the wide lanes, killing and maiming residents and visitors alike and creating a bleak and harrowing ambience that diminishes the curb appeal of local businesses. The road diet and its accompanying bike lanes would restrain the speed demons, and the bike lanes themselves would allow neighbors the option to get about without cars, which so many of them do not own anyway. This would improve job access and bring more customers to local stores…

Yes, in the name of the spurious concept of “balance” employed by Faux News, the number of people speaking for the road diet was held down to match the number speaking against—a principle that, if applied to elections, would result in a tie every time.

In other words, democracy be damned.

They’re both good reads.

And if it doesn’t piss you off than an elected official is blatantly ignoring both the will of the people and the safety of cyclists and pedestrians, for reasons known only to him, maybe it should.

However, from what I’ve read and been told, it rapidly devolved into a shouting match between the mostly younger supporters of the road diet and the mostly older opponents — in other words, those most likely to use the bike lanes and those who probably haven’t been on a bike in decades, and aren’t likely to anytime soon.

If ever.

Yet those who opposed reconstructing the street seemed more that willing to tell the rest where and how they should ride. And where they could go, for that matter.

I’m also told that those supporting the bike lanes far outnumbered the opposition. But most weren’t allowed to speak, as the meeting moderator limited the number of speakers to an equal amount from both sides in an apparent attempt at balance.

Or maybe it was just to make the opposition seem stronger than it really was.

One person who was there sent me her thoughts on the meeting.

The anti-bike lane speakers trotted out many of the same previous lies (road tax!, emergency vehicle delays!, think of the children!) but added some surprisingly creative new nonsense this time around.

One woman cited North Fig as one of the City’s evacuation routes (in case of nuclear war or something?), but in the event of a mass evacuation, painted lanes of any kind will be completely disregarded, and there’ll be a quick evac only for the lucky few motorists at the far edges of the evacuation areas who hit the road without delay. Have we learned nothing from the movie Independence Day? As a CERT graduate, I have a backpack full of essentials ready to grab. I’ll be on my bike and five miles out while other evacuees are still running around their homes like freshly headless chickens, grabbing expired batteries and precious family photo albums. When I do hit the inevitable traffic jam, I’ll sluice straight through it, like on southbound Broadway on Dodger nights. Incidentally, Ms. Emergency Prep failed to address the impediment that vehicles parked curbside will present to a fleeing population.

One guy actually stated that the proposed road diet is not in compliance with current state or federal regulations. Members of the audience requested citations for this and were barked at to respect the speaker’s turn. I was so dumbfounded at this nonsense that I forgot to observe the expression on (LADOT Bicycle Coordinator Michelle) Mowry’s face, and she was standing right behind him. Upon seeing the guy in the foyer afterwards, I was tempted to follow him into the men’s room to inquire about the source of his misinformation, but of course I refrained.

One resident complained of the effects of York’s bike lanes, asserting that the cut-through traffic is now so hideous that children can no longer play in the street. Hasn’t it been over half a century since they were legally allowed to? He stated also that the noise & danger has negatively impacted home values. Surely this gentleman wouldn’t present fabricated information to the public, so I would like to read his thorough analysis of data from the Assessor’s office.

Several incredibly delusional speakers suggested the Arroyo Seco bike path as an alternate route. Um, I’ll just assume you’re familiar enough with its current status that no elaboration is required.

One of the Seco proponents, who has maybe a decade on me, declared that because she’s older and slower, she doesn’t feel safe riding on Fig, so therefore the Arroyo bike path is a viable alternate. Because of her advanced age? What?? I’m fat and fortysomething, and I’m still taking the lane. North Fig, South Fig, PCH, whenever it’s safest. At night especially, I feel exponentially safer on Fig, as opposed to a dark, secluded bike path out of screaming distance of potential rescuers. And if age-related neurological issues destroy my ability to recognize and/or use the most practical routes, I hope my loved ones keep me off the damn roadways. Mind you, it’s possible I misinterpreted this speaker’s concerns; maybe she was merely suggesting we safely build our stamina by riding all those extra, inconvenient, hilly miles up to our errands at Figueroa’s businesses.

One snide woman prefaced her remarks with the accusation that many in the audience are not locals; perhaps she missed the speakers before her, or just doesn’t consider, say, an Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council member local enough. She then stated that she has one child in a NELA school, and another who attends school two cities over. I hope the locals in that city don’t bully her child or insinuate that the kid is unworthy of safe infrastructure because of non-local status. Naturally, this mother made no mention of the fact that her children are most likely to die as passengers in a motor vehicle collision than by any other cause, although she did an excellent job of making it crystal clear that moving her vehicle at faster speeds during rush hour is far more important than their safety.

Curiously, nobody mentioned Marmion Way as an alternate (I was late, though, so I may have missed this), and pretty much everybody, whatever their opinion of the proposed road diet, seemed repulsed by the idea of a sharrowed lane.

Cedillo (CD1 City Councilmember Gil Cedillo) wasn’t even in the audience for most of the public comment session. Afterwards he spouted a trite “agree to disagree” pronouncement and thanked everybody for coming; presumably “everybody” also includes the speakers he didn’t bother to listen to.

I’m also disgusted with the segregation of speakers: the opponents of the status quo spoke first, followed by the opponents of the proposed road diet. However, I don’t know whether this was deliberate.

I’ll also point out that bike parking was a pain. Most bikes were locked to the chain link fence enclosing the portal of the tunnel created for students decades ago, when our myopic city planners prioritized the almighty LOS over safe routes for non-motorized road users. Others arriving while I was trying to find a suitable spot were instructed to park on the west side of the long dumpster bay on the side of the auditorium. After three failed attempts to lock up (with my extra-long u-lock, btw), I very seriously considered just locking to Josef’s cargo bike, but ended up locking insufficiently to the parking lot’s chain link fence post. I might see about being bike valet at next month’s meeting.

Speaking of online petitions, the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition has created one calling on the city to protect vulnerable road users by adopting a cyclist anti-harassment ordinance; thanks to Wesley Reutimann for the heads-up.

State

And so the backlash begins, as a Newport Beach council member complains loudly about a recommendation to ban cars, not bikes, from the city’s Back Bay Drive on a trial basis.

And right now, things aren’t looking good for you. Or the people who live, work or travel through your district.

But let’s be honest. It’s not about bike lanes.

As you should be aware by now, North Figueroa has long been a dangerous street for bicyclists and pedestrians, as well as motorists. In fact, the street has averaged nearly one traffic fatality a year, and over 82 injuries, over a 10-year period.

It’s a roadway where dangerous design and overcapacity encourage speeding and overly aggressive driving, risking innocent lives and discouraging the non-motorized transportation that could ease traffic and benefit local businesses.

In a process that began five years ago, the street was studied and discussed in an extensive series of public meetings. And the overwhelming consensus among local residents — your constituents — was that the roadway needed to be reconfigured to calm traffic and improve safety.

Bike lanes were just a part of a larger plan that would benefit everyone by increasing pedestrian access, reducing dangerous driving and improving livability throughout the North Figueroa corridor.

Combined with the recently approved MyFigueroa project on South Figueroa, it would establish one of the city’s most complete streets from end-to-end, where average people could feel comfortable strolling casually or enjoying a leisurely bike ride to local shops and restaurants. As well as encouraging people to get out of their cars to commute to work and school, taking pressure off our city’s overcrowded and fume-choked streets.

The project was approved, funded and shovel-ready when your predecessor left office.

All you had to do was sign off on it.

Instead, you’ve engaged in a year-long campaign of obfuscation and foot-dragging, repeatedly refusing to engage with local residents questioning why you were delaying such a beneficial and desperately needed project.

And now you are proposing an alternative approach, a complicated series of sharrows similar to ideas that have already been considered — and rejected — before you ever took office.

Yet sharrows will do absolutely nothing to slow traffic and improve safety on and around Figueroa. They will not improve walkability or encourage shoppers to stroll the street. And they will do nothing to entice anyone but the most confident bicyclists to risk their own safety by riding directly in front of impatient drivers.

In other words, your proposal fails to address any of the concerns that prompted the city and the residents of Northeast LA to reimagine the North Figueroa corridor in the first place. It represents a failure of imagination and leadership for which you and your staff should be ashamed.

And it begs the question of why you have backed off on a proposal with such overwhelming support — including, at one time, your own.

Some say it’s due to a desire to place your own stamp on the street, rather than allow your predecessor build on his own legacy. Others have suggested that it’s political payback to an anti-bike lane opponent who helped throw the election your way.

True or not, neither reflects well on you.

The mere fact that people in your district would question your motives for such inexplicable foot-dragging speaks to the confusion and betrayal they feel.

You have a rare opportunity to demonstrate genuine vision and leadership in creating a truly Great Street that will benefit everyone who lives, works or travels anywhere on or near it. And bring greater growth and prosperity to an area that desperately needs it.

Or your can decide to keep things more or less as they are, maintaining a dangerous auto-focused street that risks the lives and safety of everyone who travels or crosses it, as well as an almost inevitable decline for what is and should be a vibrant community.

Despite extensive criticism — including mine — Curren Price, your colleague on the City Council, showed genuine leadership in forging an agreement to keep the MyFigueroa project on track.

Will you do the same, and support a more livable North Figueroa that will stand as your legacy long after you’ve left office?

Or will you stand in the face of progress — and your constituents — to maintain a future of danger and decline?

The decision is in your hands. We can only hope you make the right choice.

Sincerely,

Ted RogersBikinginLA.com

Note: There will be a community meeting tonight at Nightingale Elementary School to discuss the proposal to replace the planned road diet and bike lanes with sharrows, from 6 to 8 pm, 3311 North Figueroa. The anti-bike lane factions are expected to be out in force, so supporters are urged to attend to demonstrate the support this project has among bike riders, pedestrians and the greater community.

According to the Highland Park-Mount Washington Patch, Louis Mraz used a recent meeting of the Mt. Washington Homeowners’ Alliance to warn that efforts by the recently formed Figueroa for All initiative could return the street to a single lane for cars and one for bikes, like it was in the ‘40s when the Red Cars reduced vehicular traffic to one lane in each direction.

Like that would be a bad thing.

Except for impatient road raging drivers, of course.

He went on to suggest that cyclists should be routed to less-traveled streets, warning that North Fig could soon become “jammed with bikes.”

Then again, he seems to take offense if there’s just one bike in his way. Or at least, that’s what he currently stands accused of.

Maybe it’s just me.

But I’d think that when you’re facing charges for a vehicular assault against a cyclist, it might be wise to keep any obvious anti-bike bias to yourself.

Longo is — or was — one of the greatest cyclists of all time, and certainly stands as one of the best I’ve ever had the privilege watching ride to victory. If she’s cheating, it raising the question of just how long and when she started. And casts pall on a career that’s lasted through parts of five decades.

And if one of the greatest riders of our time is cheating, then who isn’t?

Maybe Greg LeMond is right, and just about everyone except him is dirty. Or everyone after him, anyway.

Even teams famously dedicated to riding clean face problems, as HTC-Highroad rider Alex Rasmussen is fired from the team and suspended by Denmark’s cycling federation after missing three drug tests in 18 months.

It’s starting to look like a clean pro cyclist is about as rare a clean college football program.

……..

L.A.’s groundbreaking bicyclist anti-harassment could soon spread east as Washington DC considers a similar ordinance in the wake of a deliberate assault on a rider.

She’s got a point. But seriously, if a cyclist is pounding on your car when you’re busy taking on the phone — hands-free or otherwise — there’s a reasonable chance you may have done something to deserve it.